Review: Chuwi UBook XPro (2023) Windows tablet

Review unit provided by Chuwi

The Chuwi UBook XPro 2023 is a 13-inch Windows 11 tablet priced at USD 399. It comes with the Intel i5 10210Y (4-core processor from 2019), 8GB RAM and 512GB storage. Add the optional pen and keyboard case and the price goes up to USD 449.

FYI, the Microsoft Surface Pro 8 (2021) is currently USD 799 with 8GB RAM and 512GB storage, and the Surface Pro 9 is over USD 999. Sure the Chuwi tablet's processor is from 2019 but the savings of at least USD 400 is massive.

The Chuwi tablet also has the same price as the 11-inch Xiaomi Pad 6 but is more versatile since there are more ports and it's running on Windows OS.

Bottom line

This is a beautiful well built 13-inch tablet with 2160 x 1440 IPS LCD display with better than expected colour support. The tablet is more compact than I expected and weighs 925g.

The performance with the 10th gen Intel i5 10210Y is serviceable on this Windows 11 tablet. The processor is powerful enough for office-type work, watching shows and web browsing. Don't edit videos or game on this tablet and you can expect overall smooth performance.

The USB-C port support charging and video output, and there are two USB 3.9 type A ports and even a microSD card slot.

Downsides. Audio sounds hollow and isn't loud. Apps can take longer to launch but after launch, apps will perform smooth without lag. The HDMI port is a micro HDMI

The performance seems reasonable for the price of the tablet. For USD 399 for a Windows 11 tablet, it is difficult to complain much.

Specs

• Weight: Approx 0.925kg
• Display size: 13 inches
• Display type: INCELL Multi touch capacitive
• Display resolution: 2160x1440
• Display aspect ratio: 3:2
• Display technique: Full-laminated
• Processor: Intel Core i5-10210Y
• Processor cores: 4-Core 8 Threads
• Processor frequency: 1Ghz-4.0Ghz
• Mali-G72 frequency: 700 MHz
• Graphics: Intel® HD Graphics
• Graphics frequency: 300MHz
• Storage & rAM: 8GB LPDDR3 + 512GB SSD
• Battery material: ithium polymer
• Battery capacity: 38Wh/5000 mAh
• Connectivity: 802.11a/ac/b/g/n(2.4GHz+5GHz) Wi-Fi Networking, Bluetooth 4.2
• Camera: 5MP Rear Camera With Flash Lamp, 2MP Front Camera
• Audio: Speaker x 2, Digital microphone x 2
• Operating system: Windows 11
• Ports: Type-A 3.0 X2, Audio Jack x 1, Micro SD Card Reader x 1, USB Type-C 3.0 x 1(Full-featured,Support PD charging, 3.0 data transmission), micro HDMI

Things included

The things included with the purchase are just the tablet and a 24W barrel power adapter with attached cable. The pen and keyboard case are sold separately for USD 50 together and are definitely worth getting.

A screen protector is already applied.

Design

Design of the tablet looks good. Corners of the body are rounded off but not the LCD corners. Sides are curved making comfortable to hold. Bezels are thicker compared to many tablets nowadays but still looks alright. Camera is position for landscape orientation. There are two LCD lights by the side that will light up blue for power and red for charging.

Overall build quality feels solid. Weight is 925g without the keyboard cover.

The back has a clean design with just the 5MP camera that protrudes out by quite a bit.

The back is matte textured and the material feels like plastic to me. There's some squeaking sound if you flex the tablet which suggests to me the material used is not metal. Overall build quality is considered solid.

The kickstand also feels like it's made with plastic, but it's solid enough. The hinge is stiff enough to hold the tablet at various angles, but not stiff or strong enough for you to rest your hand on it to draw or write on.

Left side of the tablet has a 3.5mm audio jack and one USB 3.0 type-A port.

The right side has the barrel power port, micro HDMI, USB 3.0 type-A and USB 3.0 type-C with support for charging and video output.

Transfer speed of the USB C is over 400MB/s.

The screen protector is quite reflective.

Colours of the display look good out of the box. I measured maximum brightness of 204 nits, colour support for 97% sRGB, 69% NTSC, 74% AdobeRGB and 74% P3. This level of colour support is almost as good as the more expensive Microsoft Surface Pro 8 but the latter has 400+ nits brightness. Brightness of the Chuwi tablet is still sufficient for use in a bright room environment but not when you're outdoors near sunlight.

Viewing angles are not good so you can only get the best visual quality from the front. Viewing angles is affected mostly by the drop in brightness instead of colour shift.

Pen

This is the Chuwi HiPen H7 active stylus. It's said to be made by Wacom and support tilt, 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity and palm rejection.

The pen is powered by one AAAA battery and does not require wireless pairing to work with the tablet.

The pen has two side buttons which may be customisable depending on the app you use.

There's minimal movement with the pen tip so this can still be considered a firm pen tip.

The display is said to be laminated and indeed it does look very laminated. However, there's still a small gap between the line and the pen tip. It's not that visible unless you're looking for it.

I have several issues with the pen performance.

Sometimes the pen just doesn't seem to work, e.g. the cursor does not appear. The other issue is the pen will sleep after a period of inactivity, and waking it up takes a few seconds if it even wakes up.

The pen claims to use Wacom technology but the drawing performance isn't really up to the usual Wacom standards. You can check out the line tests below which were created with Medibang Paint Pro, an app that does not provide software correction to the pen.

1. Initial activation force is high so you will have to press down harder, relatively speaking compared to other digital pens, to get a line. And since you have to press down harder, it is difficult to draw thin lines unless your brush has small line width to begin with. There is noticeable wobble or jitter when drawing slow diagonal lines so accuracy is affected.

2. Lines are not able to taper smoothly and sharply due to the high initial activation force.

3. Line transition from thin to thick is not obvious due to the high initial activation force which makes it difficult to draw thin lines with a thick brush.

4. To draw dots, you have to tap and drag. Just tapping on the display will not draw dots.

The drawing performance isn't good and hence drawing experience isn't good. I did not bother to create any artworks for testing.

There's latency and this can affect drawing and handwriting. To write with accuracy with the latency, I have to write slower. When I write fast, my handwriting style could not be captured accurately.

And sometimes when drawing or writing, the lines do not appear.

This is how my handwriting actually looks when captured with the Samsung S Pen.

The pen and keyboard cost additional USD 50 and it's still worth spending the money since the keyboard is very useful.

Keyboard

The keyboard case has to be attached magnetically to the tablet to get power and the magnets are very strong.

The keys feel kinda plasticky and are not back-lit. Typing experience is alright. The keys are well spaced apart and have decent key travel. So it's just the hollow feel of the keys that affect user experience. Well, it is a $50 keyboard case so I wasn't expecting much. It does it's job well.

The touchpad is big, accurate, sensitive enough. There are left and right click areas and support finger gestures. The touchpad feels kinda plasticky too.

The keyboard case can be made to prop up and will attach with magnets to maintain an inclined angle for more comfortable typing. Or you can just set the keyboard case completely flat on the table. The keyboard case have plastic edges so they should not wear out easily.

Performance

The Intel Core i5 10210Y processor came out in late 2019 and is a 4-core processor at 1Ghz. It's not a powerful processor by today's standards but it is still powerful enough to handle office-type work, documents, web browsing, watching videos, checking email, social media.

My main issue is apps take some time to launch so after you Enter or double tap to open the app, you'll be left wondering if the app is opening because there's inactivity and then after a few seconds the loading screen of the app appears.

Once the apps you use are up and running, overall performance and multi-tasking is smooth. I could even use it to edit photos and edits were quite responsive. The only issue was the app took time to launch and the photo thumbnails took a long time to generate.

I do not recommend editing videos or gaming with this tablet.

Those are the internal storage speeds and they are alright. I wasn't expecting any number to cross the 1000MB/s mark anyway for a budget tablet.

Battery life

Battery life with the 38Wh battery capacity is around 5 hours. If you have to use the tablet outdoors for long periods of time, I recommend bringing your charger along.

Conclusion

The Chuwi Ubook XPro 2023 is considered a budget tablet at USD 399 so you will have to manage your expectations with regards to performance. The tablet is just powerful enough for light computing tasks such as office-type work, web browsing and watching videos.

The display has better colour support that I expected and it's a good looking display. I wish the 200+ nits brightness could be brighter but it's still alright for indoor use.

The downsides as mentioned much earlier are the soft and hollow audio quality, longer launch time for apps and microHDMI.

This tablet is for people who are budget conscious but still want Windows OS which is more versatile compared to iPadOS and Android.

Pros and cons
+ Beautiful design
+ Solid build quality
+ Compact and lightweight
+ Good selection of ports except for microHDMI
+ Has microSD card slot
+ USB-C port support charging and video output
+ Has kickstand
+ 13-inch display is big for a budget tablet
+ Display has 97% sRGB colour support
+ Display looks sharp
+ 3:2 display aspect ratio
+ Runs Windows 11
+ Keyboard and pen are not expensive add-ons
+ At USD 399, it's good value for money considering all the pros
- Performance just good enough for light computing tasks, as expected
- Not powerful enough even for light gaming
- microHDMI port
- Barrel port for charging, but also support USB-C charging
- Audio has low volume and sounds hollow
- Keyboard case feels cheap
- 5 hours battery life
- Apps take longer time to launch
- Pen performance isn't good

Availability

You can find the Chuwi Ubook XPro 2023 from Chuwi online store.

And you can check out other Windows laptops, PCs and Android tablets they sell too, at very attractive prices.